


dare i say forever

by postfixrevolution



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, POV Third Person Limited, Pre-Timeskip, Romance, heirs of faerghus and ardrestia caught hiding in a closet together!! (NOT clickbait), might be OOC bc the game isn't out yet but sue me!, two teens up to absolutely no good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2019-06-20
Packaged: 2020-05-15 07:10:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19290778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/postfixrevolution/pseuds/postfixrevolution
Summary: He looks beautiful like this, the warm glow of their stolen candle painting him in every imaginable shade of molten gold. Edelgard can't help but stare.or: Dimitri and Edelgard hide in a closet, just for funsies.





	dare i say forever

**Author's Note:**

> the game isn't even out yet but you fuckin _bet_ i am going absolutely feral over this ship!!!
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so please bear with me and my spell check!
> 
> Title snatched from [Forever](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4F2weWYLlM) by Mumford and Sons.

The hallways echo with footsteps and chatter as the collective student body files down the Academy's winding halls, meeting up with their newest teacher for another joint lesson on combat. Edelgard lingers toward the back of the group this time, allowing her new vantage point to shed light on so many faces that she would ordinarily never see from the front. One such face she doesn't expect to see, however, is one accompanied by an ebony and cobalt uniform and unkempt blond hair. Dimitri slows enough to fall into step beside her, completely impervious to Edelgard's quizzical gaze.

"How interesting," he hums absently  Edelgard quirks an eyebrow at him. "It's quite unlike you to stray so far from the front, is it not, dear Edelgard?"

"I'm no stranger to change," she informs him simply. "There's so much to observe from here that I might never see otherwise." Edelgard glances at him from the corner of her eyes, the slightest hint of a smirk on her lips. "Like the similarly odd lingering of a certain prince, maybe? How unlike you, Dimitri."

He exhales a quick laugh at that one.

"And despite your straying, you remains as characteristically astute as ever," Dimitri drawls. "I admit that I'm not very excited for another collective combat lesson,” he confesses, “especially after what happened during our last one."

"Are you referring to your unsanctioned duel with Claude and the punishments our dear teacher gave you afterwards or how much money your house lost in the impromptu betting pools following your loss?"

Dimitri flushes. "If we hadn’t been interrupted, I  _assure_ you that Claude would have much less to brag about," he sniffs, and Edelgard can only giggle at his petulance.

"You'd have _had_ the opportunity if you two waited your turn as Byleth originally said, Dimitri. Or were you two already trading blows by the time our teacher had finished instructing the rest of our peers on combat basics?" she teases. His petulance only increases at the jab, lips pulling down into a pout.

"Claude and I were already fully aware of such basics," he explains. "As are you, I'm sure."

"And yet _I_ was still able to listen without causing a scene," she reminds him. Dimitri exhales a rueful chuckle at that.

"Well, I suppose I'd expect nothing less from the Academy's finest," he laughs, fondly referring to her by a title she's half certain Dimitri has given her based on his personal speculation alone. "Surely even intermediate level techniques aren't necessary for _you_ , Edelgard."

"And neither is causing another scene during a valuable lesson for our classmates," she warns him, narrowing lilac eyes in his direction. Dimitri remains as pleasantly nonplussed as ever, completely ignoring her sharp gaze.

"I have a completely different idea, actually," he begins mischievously. His gaze flickers toward the rest of their classmates, backs toward them as they plod methodically toward the main training grounds. Edelgard opens her mouth to reprimand him, but Dimitri is quick to plow onward, determined to rope her in. “What do you say we find something else to occupy our time?”

Edelgard blinks at him, eyebrows raised. “You’re proposing we skip class?”

“We’ve both no use for these lessons, Edelgard,” he counters, amusement dancing over his features when she opens her mouth to contradict him, only to snap it promptly shut. “Surely more time with the equipment for our classmates is more of a benefit than a disservice, wouldn’t you say?”

She clicks her tongue softly. “Even if your argument is sound, Dimitri, getting caught skipping class is hardly befitting of House leaders,” Edelgard sighs.

“It’s only ill fitting if we get caught,” he tells her wryly, shooting a toothy smirk in her direction. His eyes flash with something between friendly teasing and challenge, daring her to play along, and that look alone is almost enough to make her cave. The brightness of Dimitri’s gaze reminds Edelgard of home, of blazing Adrestian summer skies with hardly a cloud to be seen. Everything from the brilliance of his eyes to the dizzying warmth they paint across her cheeks is magnetic.

“And how can you be so certain we _won’t_?” she presses, biting back a smirk of her own as she arches an eyebrow at him. He notices right away that she’s already begun to play along, eyes positively sparking as his smirk evens out into a grin. Dimitri is impossibly easy to read, but Edelgard finds that she wouldn’t have his sincerity any other way.

He slows his pace considerably in lieu of a response, trailing back with a cursory glance at their classmates. Making sure no one was looking, Dimitri swipes the nearest candle from its perch atop one of the hallways many stone shelves, holder and all, cradling the flame with a cupped palm as he checks again to ensure he wasn’t seen. His eyes meet with Edelgard’s last, and his shifty expression immediately brightens.

Unfurling his fingers from around the candle, he grins at her, grabbing her hand to drag the both of them around the nearest corner. Edelgard doesn’t even have the chance to scold him before he presses a finger against her lips, forcing her to fall silent as he peeks around the corner to ensure their secret escape. His hand is warm, from its exposure to an open flame or simply by nature, and the heat of it pressed against her lips makes Edelgard’s breath catch in her throat.

“ _Dimitri_ ,” she breathes, but he only shushes her again, tapping his finger against her lips.

“It’s the uncertainty that makes it exciting,” he whispers, lowering his hand as he steps away from the corner. The ghost sensation of his finger against the sensitive skin of her lips still lingers, warm and awash with tingles, and Edelgard exhales deeply around it. Dimitri looks down the hallway toward the west wing, through the long stretch of tapestries and portraits, then back at Edelgard. It's the exact opposite side of the Academy that their class had originally been headed toward. "Shall we?"

Lilac eyes glance between Dimitri and the direction of the quickly fading chatter of their classmates. She could very easily catch up with the rest of them, sliding into step at the very back of the group as if she had never left, but there is a promise in Dimitri's grin that no combat lesson could even dream of matching. Her hesitation is more for show than she will ever admit, even to herself; Edelgard had been enthralled since the moment Dimitri had fallen into step beside her, vivid blue eyes alight as they gazed at her.

"If we wait any longer, Byleth will have us caught before we even round the next corner!" Edelgard decides. She greets his momentary flash of surprise with a coy smile of her own, and Dimitri grins as he takes her hand in his own, leading them forward by the dancing light of their flame. They take turns tossing furtive glances over their shoulders as they traverse the hallway, ever vigilant of any sets of eyes that might catch them astray. Edelgard isn't sure if it's the fear of being caught or the brief meeting of their eyes every time Dimitri turns his head to look behind them, but her heart thuds quickly in her chest, cheeks flushed with excitement.

They're nearly all the way down when another backwards glimpse is marred by an unmistakable splash of ebony and bright yellow against the stone walls, Claude's voice booming down the hall as he catches sight of them.

"Teacher, they're over here!"

Dimitri and Edelgard lock eyes for only a second, but it's all the communication they need before breaking into a sprint, ducking around the nearest corner and blindly turning every other mismatched corner afterwards. They slow to a stop only when the sound of pursuing footsteps has been replaced by their labored breathing instead, faces flushed with exertion as they look around for their next course of action.

Edelgard tugs her hand free from Dimitri's to examine their surroundings, sighing in relief when her eyes catch sight of a wooden door just a few paces away. Opening it reveals a small room filled with a small collection of cleaning supplies, undoubtedly one of the servants' many supply closets. With the sound of footsteps quickly growing louder, she decides there's little room to be picky now.

Edelgard watches as Dimitri relights their stolen candle on the nearest flame before stepping inside, letting her close the door and plunge them into candlelit darkness. She doesn't realize that she is holding her breath until the footsteps crescendo and peak right before their wooden door, only to fade just as quickly away as their pursuers continue running. It isn't until complete silence envelops them that she lets herself puff out a heavy sigh, deflating visibly against the door.

"That might have been a bit _too_ much excitement," she decides, lilac eyes flitting over toward her companion.

Dimitri leans against the empty wall, still somewhat recovering from their sprint. When Edelgard addresses him, he grins with an earnestness that makes the flicker of candlelight reflected in his eyes seem so much more alive. Now that they're alone again, the fear of being caught is no longer fresh on their minds. Edelgard takes a moment to watch the way shadows morph and disappear across his features with each movement of the flame. Dimitri is nothing short of entrancing, and she has to force herself to look at the door before he catches her staring.

"I know I was the one who started this," he sighs, "But I might have to agree, Edelgard."

With a huff, Dimitri slides down to sit on the floor, setting the candle down before him. Edelgard eventually joins him, settling down beside Dimitri as she watches the candle's flame dance lithely along to her movements. It eventually stills as they do, breaths slowing to the rhythm of the progressively fewer and farther in-between flickers of the candle.

With a stolen look in Dimitri's direction, Edelgard wonders if her heartbeat will ever follow suit, still conspicuously thrumming like a rabbit's in her chest. Maybe it's because of the proximity of their shoulders, so close to pressed together that she can feel the heat radiating from him, or maybe it's the residual thrill of evading capture and breaking rules, a luxury Edelgard had almost never allowed herself before. Dimitri is inexplicably and undeniably magnetic, and as her eyes are pulled in his direction again, she wonders if her racing heart is simply because it's him. It's _Dimitri_.

He catches her staring this time, a curious glint to his eyes as he regards her. His lips curl into a small smile before she has the chance to look away.

"Not regretting our decision yet, are you?" he teases, arching an eyebrow at her. Edelgard chuckles softly, unable to help a demure smile of her own.

"I think I recall this being more _your_ decision than ours," she repartees, laughter increasing at his affronted reaction. He looks ready to object when Edelgard cuts him off, laying a placating hand atop his own. Dimitri's mouth immediately snaps closed, and he stares between Edelgard and their overlapped fingers with wide blue eyes. She wonders if it's a trick of the candlelight or her own wishful thinking, but his cheeks seem to glow with a warm blush. "But worry not, dear Dimitri. I'm actually having more fun than I expected," she giggles. "I almost feel like a child again, hiding from the nursemaids trying to drag me from the muddy gardens to the bath!"

His expression softens at her response.

"I'm quite familiar with the feeling," he chuckles.

"Am I to infer that the prince of Faerghus terrorized his poor nursemaids with the snow and mud he tracked all throughout the castle?" she snickers.

"Says the one who just admitted to a childhood of muddying her skirts and trying to hide it from her own maids!"

"And here we are years later, _still_ hiding from our caretakers. It seems like old habits truly never die, do they?" she hums, shooting her companion a wry grin. He responds with a smirk of his own, the barest sliver of teeth flashing from behind his upturned lips.

"You say that as if there was ever an intention to _let_ them die," he replies. Edelgard arches an eyebrow at him, but Dimitri simply leans in conspiratorially, close enough for his breath to fan out across Edelgard's face, leaving a pleasant, low-burning buzz in its wake. There is a playful smile on his lips, one that creases the corner of his eyes and fills their brilliant blue with an infectious spark of mischief. He looks beautiful like this, the warm glow of their stolen candle painting him in every imaginable shade of molten gold. Edelgard can't help but stare.

"The hallways and hiding spots are just so numerous here! I've always wanted to do this," he confides in her, a brief flash of teeth emerging from behind his grin. "It truly does feel like being a child again, hiding away behind our tapestries and sending all the maids into a panic as they ran about to find me." Dimitri laughs, but there is a wistful twinge to it, features softening for a fleeting second. "I have to admit," he adds, "the idea of Claude and our dear teacher doing the same as my maids is even more amusing."

Edelgard tears her gaze away from his face to spare a glance at the wooden door protecting them, trying to imagine the chaos erupting behind it as their friend and instructor tear the Academy apart, muttering curses under their breaths as they search. The mental image of Claude so utterly convinced that he's finally found the right door to dramatically throw aside with slowly decreasing levels of bravado makes her snicker.

"I've no doubt they'll be quite furious with us once we're found," she notes.

"All part of the excitement, dear Edelgard," he reassures her, brimming with a confidence that makes her unable to remain truly upset. "If you _are_ averse to facing our teacher's wrath, however, I suppose it's only proper that I offer the lady an out."

Dimitri flashes the teeth behind his smirk again, only a quick flicker of a positively wicked grin, but enough to make Edelgard's heart skip a beat nonetheless. "If we play our cards right," he begins, "I'm sure anyone would believe that the Academy's finest was only involved because her troublesome rogue of a classmate so wickedly coerced her."

She can't help but laugh at that one. "I'm no damsel in distress, Dimitri," she reminds him fondly, "although I do find your story extremely amusing." With a smile set comfortably on her lips, she shifts to lean back against the wall, shoulder to shoulder with her companion. If Edelgard turns her head just slightly, she can see his profile painted in golden candlelight and shadow.

"Imagine," Edelgard begins conspiratorially, leaning closely just as Dimitri had. She feels a thrill as he mirrors her, bending forward so he can hear her. "The story of an innocent, lovely academic forced to hide away in a storage closet alongside the Academy's most notorious, dashing rogue of a student. How positively scandalous," she laughs, feeling warmth wash over her as he joins in her laughter. "Why, it sounds like something right out of Dorothea's novels!”

“A dashing rogue, huh?” he echoes, sparing no amount of teasing in the wicked smirk he shoots her. Edelgard feels herself flush immediately, cheeks burning as she averts her eyes, laughter trailing off weakly.

“Don’t flatter yourself, Dimitri,” she waves him off. “I was only referring to Dorothea’s silly romance novels.”

“I never would have guessed,” he replies, voice tinged with a playfulness that Edelgard can’t draw her curious gaze away from. Dimitri’s sky-blue eyes are still set on her, focused with an intensity that makes her wonder if he would ever look away. Part of her wonders whether she would truly mind if he didn’t. “After all,” he adds softly, so quiet that Edelgard finds herself leaning closer just to hear, “you fit the role of a lovely academic quite perfectly, Edelgard.”

His eyes never leave hers as he says it, and there are so many things that send her heart racing in this very moment alone--his proximity and his words, the glow of golden firelight on his regal features and the closeness of his breath, warm and heady against the already too-hot skin of her cheeks. Edelgard’s lips hang parted in wait of a reply, but she’s never felt so utterly _speechless_ before in her life. Dimitri’s soft gaze on her only does more to feed the rapidly expanding bubble of pure awe filling up inside her chest.

Dimitri seems to feel it too, the intoxicating sense of awe that envelops them both, urging him to gaze at her as if committing every detail of her golden candlelit features to memory. When he reaches out to touch her, his fingertips graze against the curve of her chin first, catching Edelgard’s breath in her throat as he traces all the way up the line of her jaw. His palm settles right against her cheek, fingers finding purchase just beneath the slope of her jaw, and Dimitri brushes his thumb absently over the swell of her cheek with lidded eyes.

Even half closed and tinted by flickering shadows, his eyes are brilliant, and Edelgard finds herself getting lost in them, in the idea of Adrestian summers with Dimitri at her side, just as blindingly beautiful and dizzyingly warm. She leans into his touch with ease, and he seems to take it as encouragement, holding her just a bit tighter as he tilts her head to better face his.

“You truly are... perfectly lovely,” he breathes, and his summer-sky eyes drift shut as Dimitri closes the space between them, pressing their lips together with the gentlest of sighs. Edelgard melts against him with a pleased hum of her own, lilac eyes fluttering shut as she reaches up to place her hands on his shoulders, fingers just barely curling around the nape of his neck.

If just the press of his hands against her skin was already warm, the feeling of his lips against hers and their bodies pulled flush is unfiltered sunlight against her skin, and Edelgard drinks in the sensation just like she does in Adrestia: hungrily and feeling perfectly at home.

Dimitri's free hand finds purchase atop her thigh, the sudden heat of his palm over her tights making her gasp. Her lips part enough for him to press himself even closer, tongue brushing lightly across the seam of her lips. The sensation is electric and entirely foreign to her, a shiver arching down her back like lightning as she attempts to copy him, urging Dimitri to do it again.

The way his breath catches at her ministrations causes Edelgard to smile into this kiss, gladly repeating the brush of her tongue over the swell of his lips until she feels ready enough to go further, slipping it between his lips with a boldness that forces a whimper from his throat. The sound catches them both by surprise, although much differently for Edelgard as she feels trickle down her spine and coalesce into a churning heat right below her stomach. She pulls back at that, chest heaving, eyes fluttering open just in time to catch Dimitri attempting to follow her back. His eyes are hazy when they slide open to meet hers, blurred with desire, and Edelgard can't look away.

She wants to kiss him again, to find out exactly what kind of warmth he has left so low and heavy in her stomach and how many more noises she can urge out of him with her lips and tongue alone. Dimitri can't seem to focus on only her eyes or her lips, gaze flickering blearily between the two. When he lingers for a second longer on her mouth, wetting his lips with clear anticipation, Edelgard dives forward again, catching his lips with her own. She climbs blindly over his outstretched legs without pulling away, settling in his lap if only to make the angle better for them both, and Dimitri hums as she presses them chest to chest, the low sound vibrating pleasantly between them.

Edelgard parts her lips again, eager to continue where they left off, but they're suddenly interrupted by a loud creak as the door swings open, flooding the room with a burst of light and cold air.

A third presence announces itself with an extremely unenthusiastic, " _A-ha...!_ " and Dimitri and Edelgard spring apart as if they were burned, cheeks painted a brilliant, embarrassed scarlet. Edelgard knocks over the candle as she stumbles back, extinguishing the flame and spilling wax all over the floor. Claude, apparently, doesn't seem to notice any of this, too busy gawking at the two of them as if blinking would make vanish into thin air.

"By the gods, you _were_ both actually in here!" he exclaims. "You have no idea how many doors I've thrown aside in search of you two," he adds, shooting them both an extremely unimpressed pout. "And our dear teacher certainly won't take too kindly for all the panic and running about your disappearances caused. You two are _in_ for it."

Edelgard winces, glancing at her partner in crime to see him sporting a similar grimace. Their eyes meet simultaneously, and it only takes a moment for an agreement to pass silently between them.

"I'll distract him if you'll get a head start," Edelgard tells him simply. Dimitri nods firmly in reply, the corner of his lips curling up into a small smirk.

Claude frowns.

"You'll what?"

He is offered no reply whatsoever, instead being suddenly barrelled over as Edelgard springs up to tackle him. In her peripheral vision, she sees Dimitri fly down the hall in a blur of cobalt and black, pale blue eyes tossing her a mischievous look over his shoulder before he rounds the nearest corner. She grins, unable to help her laughter as she throws a bewildered Claude into the closet she and Dimitri had just escaped from, slamming the door shut. The shuddering thud of the door rattling in its frame has yet to finish echoing down the hall by the time she is sprinting down it, quickly catching up with her partner in crime.

"To our next hideaway?" he asks her as they run, flashing her a breathless, toothy grin as he holds a hand out for her to take. Edelgard laughs freely at the sight.

"How much longer do you expect us to be able to continue this game of cat and mouse?" she chuckles, but takes his hand nonetheless, letting him lead her along the Academy's long, winding hallways.

"We've evaded capture for this long, have we not?" He laces their fingers as he says it, holding her tight. "Were it in our power, I suppose I would run with you forever, Edelgard."

Edelgard can’t help the carefree grin that stretches across her face. Her heart races, both from their scrambling and weight of his words, and she finds that she has never felt so _alive_.

"And how lovely that would be," Edelgard agrees, squeezing his hand in hers. He glances back at her, blue eyes brighter than the endless, blinding skies above Adrestia in summer.  "To have this moment last forever."


End file.
